View full sizeDieu Nalio Chery / APA boy looks at the camera as he walks past a partially flooded house on the outskirts of L'Estere, Haiti, on Thursday. Tropical Storm Emily broke apart Thursday and became a wet low pressure system after dumping rains over part of Haiti and the southwestern corner of the Dominican Republic, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti -- A group of Syracuse University students and staff went to Haiti this week to help a university bring its computer system back online a year and a half after an earthquake devastated the country.

On Thursday, the group found themselves stuck in midst of the nation’s latest problem: Tropical Storm Emily. As of Thursday night, the storm that had pounded parts of the island with heavy rain and strong winds seemed to be heading out to sea.

The several inches of rain and strong winds were a problem for the roughly 600,000 people in Haiti who still live in tents in the flood-prone countryside since their homes were destroyed in the January 2010 earthquake.

The SU group rode out the storm in their boarded-up hotel on high ground in the capital Port-au-Prince, while keeping in touch with family and friends through Facebook, email and the blog.

Seven students and four SU staff members arrived Saturday to help the Universite d’Etat du Haiti (UEH) install wireless equipment. The university lost some of its staff in the earthquake and many buildings were demolished, said Barbara Morrissey, whose husband and daughter are with the SU group.

“They’re trying to help them get up to some standard where they can have good Internet access in their buildings,” said Morrissey, of Syracuse. “The Internet opens up the whole world for you. For them to not have those basics, that makes their whole university suffer.”

View full sizeCourtesy of Syracuse UniversityA photo taken by a group of Syracuse University students, staff members show homes covering a side of a mountain in Haiti. The group was caught in Tropical Storm Emily, which passed through Thursday but didn't leave much rain in the capital of Port-au-Prince, where the group was stationed.

Her husband, Peter Morrissey Jr., a director of networking for Syracuse University, wrote on the blog Thursday that the tropical storm had hit the island.

Lee Badman, SU’s wireless network architect who is also a Jordan village trustee, said the students stayed back at the hotel Thursday while he and other staff worked all day under threat of the storm.

By Thursday evening, the SU group was safe in their hotel. But Morrissey blogged that the group was worried about the people living in tents on the sides of the mountain. “They may not fare as well,” he wrote. “Pray that everyone will be evacuated from those locations before the storm hits. Most of the trees have been harvested from the mountains which has caused a lot of erosion.”

The group is expected to return to Syracuse on Saturday.

The outreach project is in the first phase of a year-long collaboration between SU and the university in Haiti. The collaboration also will bring six graduate students from Haiti to SU this fall and SU will help the school with its long-term information technology strategy.

“I’ve been hoping and praying they’re going to be OK,” said Julie Walas, director of undergraduate recruitment and engagement for the School of Information Studies. “So far they’ve had beautiful days (before the storm hit). They’ve got two more days there. We’re hoping they get out safely.”